Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated as R&B or Rn'B, is a genre of popular music that originated in African-American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to African Americans, at a time when "rocking, jazz-based music...[with a] heavy, insistent beat" was becoming more popular. R&B music is a conglomerate of several early 20th-century Black American music art forms, including soul, gospel, jazz, and blues. The genre typically features a piano, one or two guitars, bass, drums, one or more saxophones, and sometimes background vocalists. R&B lyrical themes often encapsulate the African-American experience of pain and the quest for freedom and joy, as well as triumphs and failures in terms of relationships, economics, and aspirations.
The term "rhythm and blues" has evolved over time and has been used to describe various types of postwar African-American popular music, as well as for some white rock music derived from it. Early on, the term was used for boogie woogie, African American swing, jazz, and blues, all of which influenced the development of what is called rhythm and blues today. Today, the genre is referred to as Contemporary R&B, which differentiates modern R&B pop, funk, and rap fusions from the earlier, more soulful and spiritual sounds of R&B.
